The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), known informally and more commonly as La Francophonie (or, more simply, Francophonie),[2][3] is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is the first ("mother") or customary language; and/or where a significant proportion of the population are francophones (French speakers); and/or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.

The organization comprises 57 member states and governments, three associate members and twenty observers. The term francophonie (with a lowercase "f") also refers to the global community of French-speaking peoples,[4] comprising a network of private and public organizations promoting special ties among all France's colonial ambitions with other nations in its history.[citation needed]

The modern organisation was created in 1970. Its motto is égalité, complémentarité, solidarité ("equality, complementarity, and solidarity"),[1] a deliberate allusion to France's motto. Started as a small club of northern French-speaking countries, the Francophonie has since evolved into a global organization whose numerous branches cooperate with its member states in the fields of culture, science, economy, justice, and peace.

The missions of this new intergovernmental organization, based on the sharing of the French language, are the promotion of the cultures of its members and the intensification of the cultural and technical cooperation between them, as well as the solidarity and the connection between them through dialogue.

The Francophonie project ceaselessly evolved since the creation of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation, it became the intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie (Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie) in 1998 to remind its intergovernmental status. Finally in 2005, the adoption of a new Charter of the Francophonie (la Charte de la Francophonie) gives the name to the Agency of international Organization of the Francophonie (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie).[7]

The Secretary General of the Francophonie is elected during the Summit. He/she is the keystone of the institutional device and of the Francophonie and leads the organization. He/she is the spokesperson and the official representative internationally of the political actions of the Francophonie. The Secretary General is responsible for proposing priority areas for multilateral Francophonie actions. His/her job is to facilitate Francophone multilateral cooperation and to ensure that programs and activities of all operating agencies work in harmony. The Secretary General carries out his/her four-year mandate under the authority of the three main institutions of the Francophonie: the Summits, the Ministerial Conference and the Permanent Council.[10]

The Summit, the highest authority in the Francophonie, is held every two years and gathers the Heads of states and governments of all member countries of the International Organization of the Francophonie around themes of discussion. It is chaired by the Head of state and government of the host country, and this person assumes that responsibility until the next Summit. By enabling the Heads of state and government to hold a dialogue on all of the international issues of the day, the Summit serves to develop strategies and goals of the Francophonie so as to ensure the organization's influence on the world scene.[11]

The Ministerial Conference of the Francophonie gathers the foreign or francophone affairs ministers of member states and governments every year to ensure the political continuity of the Summit. This conference ensures that the decisions made during the previous Summits are carried out and to plan the next Summit. It also recommends new members and observers to the Summit.[10]

The Permanent Council of the Francophonie gathers the Ambassadors of the member countries, chaired by the General Secretary of the Francophonie and under the authority of the Ministerial Conference, its main task is to plan Summits. This conference also supervises the execution of the Summit decisions made by the ministerial conferences on a day-to-day basis, about the examination of the propositions of the budget distribution.[10]

The objectives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie are to represent to the French-speaking authorities, the interests of the French-speaking communities, to promote the democracy, the rule of law and the respect of human rights. Furthermore, it follows the execution by the operators of the Francophonie of action plans elaborated by the Conference of the members using French as a common language It also favours the cooperation and strengthens the solidarity within the French-speaking communities, mainly towards the parliaments of the South. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie is constituted by member sections representing 77 parliaments or interparliamentary organizations. The Secretary General is the French senator Jacques Legendre.[10]

The Agency of the Francophonie is the main operator of the cultural, scientific, technical, economic and legal cooperation programs decided at the Summits. It is also the legal seat of the Secretary General and is used by him as an administrative support. The agency also contributes to the development of the French language and to the promotion of the diverse languages and cultures of its members, while encouraging mutual understanding between them and the Francophonie. For this reason, it is a place of exchange and dialogue. The Agency's headquarters are in Paris and it has three regional branches in Libreville, Gabon; Lomé, Togo; and Hanoi, Vietnam.[12]

Algeria is the 3rd largest country in number of francophones, after France and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The 2008 census counted 11.2 million people, aged 5 and older, declaring reading and writing French.[17] Algeria is not a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, but is encouraged[by whom?] to join the organisation. Algeria is also sometimes pointed out as the second French-speaking community in the world, having 16 million francophones.[18]

The Aosta Valley is the only bilingualism system of Italy aiming to not create separate speech communities, using an egalitarian system of school learning. Every Aostan is supposed to speak both languages, but in reality imbalances exist, especially in favor of Italian language. However, no monolingualism situation has been noticed.

Its mission is to contribute to the construction and consolidation of a scientific space in French. It supports the French language, cultural and linguistic diversity, law and democracy, and the environment and sustainable development. It also provides an important mobility program for the students, the researchers and the professors.[21]

Assembly of Francophone Civil Servants of International Organisations (AFFOI)[edit]

Its mission is to support the French language and the linguistic diversity within International Organisations. Every year the association coordinates the day of French language within International Organisations.[23] It also organizes seminaries to increase awareness about the importance of linguistic, cultural and conceptual diversity. The president is the French international civil servant Dominique Hoppe.

TV5Monde is the first international French language television network, available in many countries. On television and online the audience of TV5Monde has grown rapidly. TV5 is one of the three largest television networks in the world, and is considered one of the greatest achievements of the Francophonie.[24] It provides wide access to original television programmes in French, and contributes to the development of the language and French-speaking cultures. It broadcasts the different forms of the French language spoken around the world, with all their accents. It reaches beyond native speakers of French; the majority of those who can receive it and part of its audience comprise viewers for whom French is not the mother tongue. Thanks to subtitles in various languages, it provides access to the Francophonie to non-French speakers - it is translated into 12 languages.[25]

The International Association of French-speaking Mayors was created in Quebec City in 1979 on the initiative of Jean Pelletier and Jacques Chirac, then the respective mayors of Quebec City and Paris. It is an operating agency for urban development gathering 48 countries or governments. The goal is to establish close cooperation in all areas of municipal activities. Its missions are to strengthen local democracy, building municipal capacities, and to support the populations. The association pursues its actions in the domains of health, culture, youth and education, urban development, training, and municipal infrastructures.[26][27]

The project of creation of a French-speaking university in the service of the African development was presented and adopted following the Dakar Summit in 1989. The Senghor University is a private postgraduate institution that trains managers and high-level trainers in areas that are a priority for development in Francophone Africa.[28] It directs the capacities of the managers and trainers to the action and the exercise of responsibilities in certain domains for the development: the project management, the financial institutions, the environment, the nutrition-health and of the cultural heritage. The Senghor University organizes regularly seminaries to help its students and of the public specialized in the domains of its action, by collaborating with the other operators and the institutions of the Francophonie.[29]

The International Organization of the Francophonie leads political actions and multilateral cooperation according to the missions drawn by the Summits of the Francophonie. The Summits gather the Heads of states and governments of the member countries of the International Organization of the Francophonie where they discuss international politics, world economy, French-speaking cooperation, human rights, education, culture and democracy. Actions of the International Organization of the Francophonie are scheduled over a period of four years and funded by contributions from its members.[30]

The Charte de la Francophonie defines the role and missions of the organization. The current charter was adopted in Antananarivo, on November 23, 2005. The summit held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 26–27 November 2004 saw the adoption of a strategic framework for the period 2004-2014.

At the national level, there is the problem of promoting the French language within the context of its co-existence with other partner or international languages in most member countries, especially in Africa. Maintaining the relative importance of the status of French is an imperative that requires solidarity and the pooling of means and resources among countries committed to the French language within their respective societies.

The Francophonie has been a pioneer in terms of the recognition of cultural diversity and dialogue of cultures. It must find ways of confronting the trend towards uniformity that accompanies globalization and fostering the preservation and development of cultural diversity.[31]

Similar to the Commonwealth of Nations, the Francophonie has as its stated aims the promotion of democracy and human rights. Following the 3 November 2000 Déclaration de Bamako,[32] the Francophonie has given itself the financial means to attain a number of set objectives in that regard.

The Francophonie intends to contribute significantly to promoting peace, democracy and support for the rule of law and human rights by focusing on prevention. Political stability and full rights for all, the subject of the Bamako declaration, are considered key to sustainable development.

The Francophonie has chosen to provide its member countries with access to the expertise of its extensive intergovernmental, institutional, academic and non-governmental network with a view to building national capacities, resolving conflict and providing support for ending crises.[33]

In recent years, some participating governments, notably the governments of Canada and Quebec, pushed for the adoption of a Charter in order for the organization to sanction member States that are known to have poor records when it comes to the protection of human rights and the practice of democracy. Such a measure was debated at least twice but was never approved.

The International Organization of the Francophonie aims at connecting the various peoples using French as a common language through their knowledge. Education, like access to autonomy and information for all, begins with all children having access to a full primary education free of gender inequality. It involves an integrated approach of teaching and training from primary to secondary school that will lead to employment. Education policies must also give French an integral place alongside the partner languages. Last, the research potential of French-language academic streams must be promoted.[33]

The Francophonie is committed to working towards sustainable development by supporting the improvement of economic governance, capacity building, cooperation and the search for common positions in major international negotiations. It's necessary to manage durably the natural resources, particularly the energy and the water, and politics are established to make sure of the conservation of these resources with effective anti-poverty campaigns.[34]

In 2013, the United Nations Volunteers' programme received a financial contribution from the Federal Public Service (FPS) Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of Belgium for the years 2013 and 2014 to support the outreach to the francophone world and the promotion of volunteerism via its Online Volunteering service.[35]